How Can Christians Help the Earth?

The Bible says that " in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1 - RSV)
And it was good. Was good.

God also told Noah to take two of every kind of animal on the ark, "of every creeping thing of the ground..." (Gen. 6:20 RSV).

How can Christians continue to help protect God's first creation? If each church would change just a few things about the way they operate on a daily, even weekly basis, then progress can be made.

Many churches are small parishes struggling to survive. Others are huge mega churches with hundreds of parishioners. Not all churches will be able to do all of the following suggestions, but will have to adapt or decide which is workable for their parish.

Let's start with the most popular church activity - the social (or coffee) hour. First and most important is to stop using foam cups and plates. Switch to paper cups that are for hot and cold beverages. Newer cups are being made from corn products and are recyclable. Better yet, bring your own coffee mugs and write your name on it. Then wash it and leave the cup at the church or take it home with you and bring it back the following week. The same goes for your plates and especially the silverware. Buy plastic that is made from natural products such as corn and they will compost easier into the ground when thrown out.

Since most water bottles end up in landfills, why not stop using them and buy a filtered water pitcher or filtered water faucet mount? It costs more to manufacture the one gallon plastic bottle than to invest and change the filters in the pitcher or faucet. More water is used in the production of the one gallon bottle than there is water in the bottle. Parishioners can take turns buying the replacement filters.

Paper. How much paper does a parish go through? Depends on the size of the parish. Many churches send out bulletins. They also have copies left at the church. Every week. Every month. What do you do with these outdated papers? If you are fortunate enough to live in a city that allows your parish to have curbside recycling, then your problem is solved. However, many cities consider the church to be a business and don't allow curbside recycling. If you're a big parish you can pay to have a service come and pick up your recyclables. Smaller churches can have the parishioners take the items home and place in their recycle bins or take to a recycle area. Many areas have programs in which schools and non-profits can have dumpsters for papers and cans. When the dumpsters are filled they are turned in and the school or non-profit earn money. This is a great way to help both your community and the earth.

Cans and bottles can also be recycled in the same manner as paper.

Here's an idea the Sunday school kids will love!

Let's talk food! All those church dinners. All those leftover veggies and fruit going into the garbage. Stale bread thrown out. Bread can be fed to the birds. As for some of the other foods - they can be fed to the worms! Yes, worms. This is a composting technique known as vermiculture. Organic kitchen waste can be turned into some of the best fertilizer on earth. This method requires little work with no offensive odors. You need a bin, bedding, red worms, (not earth worms) and the food. You can feed your worms vegetable scraps, fruit peels, breads, coffee grounds, crushed eggshells. No meats, bones or dairy products. Almost any type of opaque container will do for the bin. It should be about 8"-16" deep and have a lid and holes in the bottom for drainage. Holes should be a quarter inch or smaller.

A pound of worms. Newspaper for bedding. (another way to recycle paper) And you're ready to compost. There are many books and websites for more detailed information on worm composting. Worms Eat My Garbage is an excellent and easy book to start with. earth911.org has many resources for composting and other recycling information.

Once you have harvested your compost and worm tea, you can use it for your own church garden or have a fundraiser and sell it.

Does your church like lush green lawn? Great. Stop spraying pesticides and try a more natural approach. Earthworms. After a heavy rain or watering of the grass, throw out some earthworms. They will eat and digest the ground. Their castings are a great source of fertilizer.

Almost everyone has a home computer, fax machine, or printer. The church probably has a copier machine. All those ink cartridges and toners can be recycled. Some brands will send you prepaid envelopes to send the empty cartridges back in. Office supply stores will give you a pack of copy paper if you bring in your cartridges. There are places (you can find them on the Internet) that will buy back the cartridges from non-profit organizations.

If your church is small and struggling to pay bills, you can help cut down your electric bill by changing the light bulbs to the newer compact fluorescent bulbs. These use 60% - 80% less energy and will last for years. They do need to be disposed of properly as they do contain a pin drop of mercury.

Old computers should not be thrown in the garbage. Take them to a recycling center that accepts computers. The parts contain leads and other metals that will leach into the ground and could contaminate ground water.

These are but a few ideas of how Christians can help the earth that God created. Get creative. Perhaps a bigger parish can help a smaller sister parish. Or one church challenge another church to a recycling contest. The list goes on.

Christians need to become more environmentally active, if not for themselves, then for their children and grandchildren. We need to start following the advice and actions of the only active Christian crusader of the earth, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. The Patriarch is the spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians. We should heed the Patriarch's words:

"To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin. For humans to cause species to become extinct, to degrade the integrity of the Earth by causing changes in its climate, stripping its natural forests or destroying its wetlands or contaminating Earth's waters, air and life with poisonous substances. These are sins... [Earth] is God's gift of love to us, and we must return that love by protecting it and all that is in it" (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Christian Century, 12/3/1997).